18th century Kensington was founded by Anthony Palmer in the early 1730s. Using proceeds from the sale of the Hope Farm estate (present day Port Richmond), which included three enslaved people named Abraham, Hannibal, and Phillis, Palmer purchased what was called the Fairman Estate, located along the Delaware River in the Northern Liberties Township (area just north of the City of Philadelphia on the Delaware River). The entire estate consisted of 191.5 acres of land, much smaller than the present-day Kensington area. Palmer was an English merchant who came to Philadelphia by 1704 from
Barbados. The town of Kensington was named for the area in London known as
Kensington, which had been recently established as the residency of the British crown. Palmer laid out his town and sold parcels to many of the shipwrights and shipbuilders who were outgrowing their riverfront lots in present-day Old City, Southwark, and Society Hill areas. He also sold to recent German fishermen immigrants. The original area of Kensington is now more commonly called
Fishtown, mainly because of the
shad fishing that was one of the dominant businesses in Kensington in the 18th and 19th centuries.
19th century Kensington has traditionally been known as one of the working class centers of Philadelphia. and became home to a variety of factories, potteries, and machine works. Kensington is also historically known for its large
working class Irish Catholic community and was the site of the
Philadelphia nativist riots in the 19th century. It was also the birthplace of the
K&A Gang, currently known as the Northeast Philly
Irish Mob, an
Irish American organized crime network. By the mid-19th century, Kensington became one of the leading centers of the textile industry, particularly in
carpet.
McNeil Laboratories began with the purchase of a pharmacy in the area in 1879 by the company's namesake.
20th century In 1903,
Mother Jones organized a "Children's Crusade" of children from the local mills and mines to protest against
child labor. They marched from Kensington to
Oyster Bay, New York, carrying banners demanding, "We want to go to School and not the mines!"
Deindustrialization eventually took hold in the neighborhood in the 1950s, leading to a significant population loss, high unemployment, economic decline, an increase in crime, and numerous abandoned homes and businesses. However, some sections of the neighborhood have been revitalized in recent years, especially those near Frankford Avenue, Kensington's neighbor south of Lehigh Avenue, and
Fishtown, another traditionally
working class neighborhood which has seen rents increase. While most of the large manufacturers have left, the area has many small shops and large renovated factories and warehouses for newer artisans to set up shop.
National Register of Historic Places Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places: • The
26th District Police and Patrol Station •
Beatty's Mills Factory Building •
H.W. Butterworth and Sons Company Building •
Kensington High School for Girls •
Philip H. Sheridan School Philadelphia Register of Historic Places • Clifton Mills, 1833 N. Howard Street, Kensington (1852–63). • Clifton Mills, Building 4, 1809-11 N. Howard Street, Kensington (1852–63). • The Columbia Works, 155-59 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA. • The Decorating Plant of Gillinder & Sons' Franklin Flint Glass Works, 1700-06 N. Howard Street (1876). • Frankford Avenue Baptist Church, 2347-49 Frankford Avenue, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA (1889). • Harbisons' Dairies, 2041-55 Coral Street (1895). The Harbison Dairies is notable for its water tower, which stands on top of the industrial building in the form of a milk bottle. With development pressures in the neighborhood on the rise, the Harbison Dairies and its iconic milk bottle were threatened with demolition, which led neighbors to engage Oscar Beisert, Architectural Historian and Historic Preservationist, to draft a nomination to list the building in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, which was filed on June 7, 2016. Despite opposition from the property owner and claims of structural issues, Harbisons' Dairies was finally designated by the Philadelphia Historical Commission on January 12, 2018. • Kensington Hospital for Women, 128-40 Diamond Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA. • Peter Woll & Sons, Curled Hair & Bristles, 173 W. Berks Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA. • Second Associate Presbyterian Church, 1523-25 N. Front Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA (1852–54). • The Star Carpet Mills, 1801-03 N. Howard Street, Kensington (1880–82). • Weisbrod & Hess' Loading Room, Condenser & Storage/Boiler & Wash House, 2117 E. York Street (1890–91). ==Demographics==